A little virus that still can: poliovirus and poliomyelitis

Posted onMay 1, 2026May 1, 2026Leave a comment

A few things about poliomyelitis (‘polio’) and poliovirus, the enterovirus that causes this disease. What is Polio? Polio is the name used to describe a paralytic disease. It is caused Read More …

Age and COVID-19: What’s with all the young kids?

Posted onApril 14, 2026April 20, 2026

Inspired by an online conversation and the hard work of others, I set off to examine age groupings among Australians confirmed as COVID-19 cases, based on testing using a quality-laboratory Read More …

Asymptomatic, acute and persistent COVID-19 symptom changes over the course of three infections

Posted onMarch 5, 2026March 5, 2026

Data from a UK healthcare worker cohort published in 2024 examined how signs and symptoms of COVID-19 changed after 1, 2, or 3 SARS-CoV-2 lab-confirmed infections. Those with no symptoms Read More …

How are asymptomatic COVID-19 cases tracking?

Posted onMarch 2, 2026March 3, 2026

In the first year of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, data were assembled that defined how the virus spread among us, who, at the time, had never been infected. But the world’s Read More …

Another way to look at flu season size

Posted onFebruary 28, 2026February 28, 2026

Peak height, number of cases, deaths, severity – these are all terms that are used to give you an idea of how big a flu season has been. Here’s another Read More …

Whooping cough in 2024 was huge in Australia, but is declining in 2025 and 2026

Posted onFebruary 19, 2026February 19, 2026

The risks of declining childhood vaccination include a resurgence of dangerous infectious diseases driven by airborne pathogens such as Bordetella pertussis, the bacterium that causes whooping cough (also called pertussis). A Read More …

Pathology lab PCR is not research lab PCR

Posted onJanuary 27, 2026February 16, 2026

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) use in the pathology lab differs from research-based PCR in two fundamental ways, namely quality and clinical expertise. These are essential to producing a clinical diagnosis supported by Read More …

Is there more flu in Australia and New Zealand than normal for Christmas? Hell Yes!

Posted onDecember 27, 2025April 17, 2026

Happy FluMas, ya filthy animals! With a new flu variant – subclade K – dominant, Australia and New Zealand are seeing a very unusual bout of seasonal influenza (flu) as Read More …

Catch them all? There are three different influenza viruses and they can co-circulate each season

Posted onAugust 22, 2025August 22, 2025

We tend to say we “caught the flu” this season. But there’s more than one flu virus. Because mild and asymptomatic infections can occur with influenza viruses, and because the Read More …

The “Infection Pause”: because it’s about fewer infections, not an immune debt to repay

Posted onJuly 31, 2025February 17, 2026

There was a real, measurable shift in the peak season for several endemic human pathogens as well as a rebound in infections, coinfections, and disease severity among them after the Read More …

A Flunami in July

Posted onJuly 27, 2025July 27, 20252 Comments

Australia has recorded its largest number of laboratory-confirmed influenza virus detections among sick people for any July on record. While the numbers may be slowing, there is no way of Read More …

COVID-19 is a Pandemic: What if it was a Pandemic Emergency? And what are they anyway?

Posted onJuly 24, 2025July 25, 2025

Words carry intent and meaning. Their misuse causes harm. The word “pandemic” has a range of definitions, and it’s used regularly by experts associated with the World Health Organization (WHO). Read More …

In Australia, COVID-19 deaths did decrease between 2023 and 2024, but it’s still a major killer.

Posted onJuly 2, 2025August 1, 2025

At the prompting of a Tweep (thanks Michael), I’ve revisited my September 2024 post “In Australia, COVID-19 deaths may have stopped decreasing” to see the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics Read More …

Flu down under is a July thing

Posted onJune 16, 2025August 8, 2025

This is a graph I didn’t know I wanted to make. But now I have, I needed to make it! It shows the influenza virus detections reported to laboratories in Read More …

Q fever – an old zoonosis with a better diagnosis

Posted onJune 9, 2025June 16, 2025

Q fever or ‘query fever’ is a vaccine-preventable zoonosis first described in Australia in 19377. The causative agent8 for this disease is the obligate intracellular coccobacillus Coxiella burnetii. The bacterium Read More …

Virology Down Under

Facts, data, info, expert opinion and a reasonable, occasionally grumpy, voice on viruses: what they are, how they tick and the illnesses they may cause.

Latest posts...

A little virus that still can: poliovirus and poliomyelitis

Another way to look at flu season size

The “Infection Pause”: because it’s about fewer infections, not an immune debt to repay

Age and COVID-19: What’s with all the young kids?

A little virus that still can: poliovirus and poliomyelitis

Age and COVID-19: What’s with all the young kids?

Asymptomatic, acute and persistent COVID-19 symptom changes over the course of three infections

How are asymptomatic COVID-19 cases tracking?

Another way to look at flu season size

Whooping cough in 2024 was huge in Australia, but is declining in 2025 and 2026

Pathology lab PCR is not research lab PCR

Is there more flu in Australia and New Zealand than normal for Christmas? Hell Yes!

Catch them all? There are three different influenza viruses and they can co-circulate each season

The “Infection Pause”: because it’s about fewer infections, not an immune debt to repay

A Flunami in July

COVID-19 is a Pandemic: What if it was a Pandemic Emergency? And what are they anyway?

In Australia, COVID-19 deaths did decrease between 2023 and 2024, but it’s still a major killer.

Flu down under is a July thing

Q fever – an old zoonosis with a better diagnosis